The Limeliters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Limeliters
Alex Hassilev, Lou Gottlieb, Glenn Yarbrough

The Limeliters are a folk music group formed in July 1959 by Lou Gottlieb (bass), Alex Hassilev (baritone), and Glenn Yarbrough (tenor). Gottlieb, fresh from obtaining his Ph.D in musicology, was in the audience when Alex Hassilev and Glenn Yarbrough appeared on stage to sing a duet together. Gottlieb, who was then working as an arranger for The Kingston Trio, originally thought that "these two guys" could help him make some demos for The Kingston Trio.

Soon, they packed up and headed to Aspen, Colorado, to work at a club called "The Limelite," which Yarbrough and Hassilev had purchased after singing there during the previous ski season. After a short period of perfecting their act, they set off for the "Hungry i" in San Francisco, which at the time was the West Coast nerve center for the mushrooming contemporary folk movement. The owner had just had a group with three long names strung together and wasn't about to put "Yarbrough, Hassilev, and Gottlieb" up on the marquee. But the group had not yet decided on a name. They chose "The Limeliters".

Their success was immediate. Only two days after their professional debut, the group received offers from three recording companies and in early 1959, they released their first album on Elektra. Soon after they signed with RCA and a string of best selling albums followed.

Never having a true chart-topping hit record, they are loved for a large collection of rousing songs including such as "There's a Meetin' Here Tonight," "City of New Orleans," "A Dollar Down," "Have Some Madeira M'Dear," "Lonesome Traveler," "Wabash Cannonball," "Whiskey in the Jar," and many others which are performed on their more than 25 record albums and in their concerts.

The Limeliters' album, Tonight in Person reached number 5 in the U.S. charts in 1961. Their second album made the top 40, and their third release, The Slightly Fabulous Limeliters, made the top ten in the same year. But their one album with the longest staying power is undoubtedly their album of folk songs for children of all ages, Through Children's Eyes.

For three years, The Limeliters were the musical representatives for Coca-Cola. Their rendition of the jingle, "Things Go Better with Coke" became a national hit.

Yarbrough left the group in 1963. For about two years, Ernie Sheldon (who wrote the lyrics for what became Yarbrough's biggest solo hit, "Baby the Rain Must Fall") filled in for Yarbrough.

In 1965, at the pinnacle of their success, the highly individualistic members of the group decided to take a break. For the next few years they pursued their own individual interests; Yarbrough as a successful soloist on records and in concert; Hassilev as a producer with his own recording studio; and Gottlieb as owner of a commune ranch in California.

During the 1970s, in response to an ever-greater demand from their many fans, the Limeliters embarked on a series of yearly reunion tours with Yarbrough. These were so successful that in 1981, Hassilev and Gottlieb decided to reform the group and to get back into the mainstream of entertainment. With the addition of the soaring tenor of Red Grammer they once again began thrilling audiences with the unique sound that made them famous.

After eight very productive years, Grammer left the group to pursue a solo career as a children's artist. In 1990, he was replaced by another tenor, Rick Dougherty, whose wide-ranging musical background and bright stage presence brought another fresh dimension to the group.

Gottlieb's death in 1996 was a great loss for the group, but his high baritone part was taken up by a former Kingston Trio member, Bill Zorn, a banjo-player extraordinaire with the powerful vocals needed to complete the group's unique sound.

In 2003, Zorn and Dougherty left the group and in early 2004, tenor Mack Bailey and comedian baritone Andy Corwin joined the group.

1 Discography
- 1.1 Albums
  - 1.1.1 Compilations, Box Sets
- 1.2 Singles
2 External links

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

1960 — Limeliters [Later re-released as Their First Historic Album] Elektra Studio
1961 — Slightly Fabulous Limeliters — RCA (Live)
1961 — Tonight: In Person — RCA (Live)
1962 — Folk Matinee — RCA
1962 — Sing Out! — RCA
1962 — Through Children's Eyes — RCA (Live)
1963 — Our Men in San Francisco — RCA (Live)
1963 — Fourteen 14K Folk Songs — RCA (Studio album)
1963 — Makin' a Joyful Noise — RCA
1964 — Leave It to the Limeliters — RCA (Studio album)
1964 — More of Everything! — RCA (Studio album)
1965 — Limeliters Look at Love in DepthRCA
1965 — London Concert — RCA (Live)
1968 — Original 'Those Were the Days' (Re-Issue of Folk Matinee) — RCA
1968 — Time to Gather Seeds — Warner Brothers
1974 — Reunion - Glenn Yarbrough and The Limeliters — Stax
1976 — Reunion, Vol. 1 — Brass Dolphin
1976 — Reunion, Vol. 2 — Brass Dolphin
1977 — Pure Gold — RCA
1987 — Best of the Limeliters — (RCA Special Products).
1986 — Alive in Concert, Vol. 2 — GNP (Live)
1987 — Harmony! — Folk Era (Live)
1988 — Alive in Concert, Vol. 1 — GNP (Live)
1989 — Potpourri — West Knoll
1990 — Singing for the Fun — GNP (Live)
1990 — A Mighty Day! — West Knoll
1991 — Joy Across the Land — West Knoll (Live)
1992 — Global Carnival — West Knoll
1996 — Two Classic Albums from the Limeliters: The Fabulous Limeliters and Sing Out!
1999 — Until We Get it Right — Limeliter Productions
2000 — The Complete RCA Singles Collection — Taragon/BMG
2000 — Two Classic Albums from the Limeliters: Our Men in San Francisco and London
2000 — The Chicago Tapes - First Set August 13, 1976 Concert — Folk Era (Live)
2000 — The Chicago Tapes - Second Set August 14, 1976 Concert — Folk Era (Live)
2004 — Live In Paradise — Limeliter Productions

[edit] Compilations, Box Sets

1964 — Best of the Limeliters [RCA] — RCA — Mix
1993 — Best of the Limeliters [Essex] — Essex
1997 — 36 All-Time Greatest Hits (3 CD Set)' — BMG

[edit] Singles

"The Hammer Song" b/w "Charlie, The Midnight Marauder"; Elektra EKSN-45-8
"A Dollar Down" b/w "When Twice the Moon Has Come and Gone"; RCA Victor 47-7859 (with picture sleeve)
"A Hundred Years Ago" b/w "Paco Peco"; RCA Victor 47-7913
"Red Roses and White Wine" b/w "Milk and Honey" from the Broadway musical "Milk and Honey"; RCA Victor 47-7942.

This 45 was also commercially issued as RCA Victor Compact 33 Single 37-7942; it was a 7" vinyl record, but played at 33 rpm.

"Just an Honest Mistake" (from the production "Let it Ride") b/w "Jonah"; RCA Victor 47-7966
"I Had a Mule" b/w "The Riddle Song"; RCA Victor 47-8069
"Who Will Buy?" (from the Broadway musical "Oliver") b/w "Funk"; RCA Victor 47-8094 (with picture sleeve)
"The Midnight Special" b/w "McLintock's Theme (Love In The Country)" from the U.A. Badjac Production "McLintock," RCA Victor 47-8255
"No Man is an Island" b/w "A Casinha Pequenina (Little House)"; RCA Victor 47-8361
"Rose" b/w "Seventeen Wives"; RCA Victor 47-8535
"A Hundred Men" b/w "Cold December (In Your Heart)"; Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Records 7177 (credited to "The Limeliters with Glenn Yarbrough")
"Time to Gather Seeds" b/w "The Importance of The Rose"; Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Records 7254
"Consider It Done" b/w "A Pound of Peaches" (Summer's Here); Morningstar MSR-1 (with picture sleeve reading "The Limeliters spring 1973; The Limeliters spring 1963")
"I See America" b/w "Holy Creation"; STAX Records 0185 (credited to Glenn Yarbrough)
"American Tour" b/w "Right From the Start"; West Knoll Records WK-1001
"Beautiful Fantasy" b/w "Heart Full of Love"; West Knoll Records WK-1002